But the amount of land ownership out West is not the biggest part of the problem.

The problem, especially to race promoters, is the federal mismanagement of that land due to complicated, inconsistent, or blocked recreational opportunities.

The federal government agencies, that are responsible for rules and regulations, have created a bureaucratic nightmare that Jacob’s identifies as a fight between “… good stewardship of the land … [and too much] … government intervention… [in how the land is used]”.

As a race promoter, this issue directly impacts your capability to use public land as a race venue.

The more land the US Government owns, and then shuts off to recreational opportunities, the fewer areas you will have to host races.

Therein lies the political issue.

Are you for environmental protection via the blocking recreational opportunities to federal land?

Or are you for the public use federal land, with conservation guided by a managed permit process?

Furthermore, should the federal government even be in the business of owning that much land?

Or should the States be given back their stewardship responsibilities of the land inside their own borders?

Not an easy subject to consider.

One side wants environmental protection, the other wants conservation by permitted use.

See. Not so easy.

As an American, which side do you agree with most?

As a race promoter, which side you think agrees with your principles the most?

Can there be a balance between environmental protection and conservation?

#2 — The Issue of Land Access

Issue-at-a-Glance: This issue focuses on HOW you access public land that is already been set aside for public use.

If you’re a mountain biker, this one is very important to you.

Especially after recent reports of lawmakers banning mountain bikes in wilderness areas that once allowed them.

In Felton’s article, he cites how the US Forest Service changed the rules in 2015, and made mountain bikers no longer welcome on 178 miles of singletrack trails.

Why the ban?

Critics of mountain biking believe that mountain bikes cause more erosion or disturbed wildlife more often than other trail users.

And are using the Wilderness Act of 1964 to kick mountain bikers off trails that use to allow them.

While the Wilderness Act of 1964 does not include mountain bikes (because they didn’t exist then), Felton points out that a number of environmental protection groups convinced the US Forest Service to change their regulations in 1984 to explicitly prohibiting mountain bikes from wilderness areas.

The new regulation has now been expanding by changing the wording of the prohibition from “[…] motorized to mechanized transport”.

This change prompted the Bureau of Land Management, the National Park Service, and the Fish and Wildlife Service, to also change their definition regarding mountain bikes.

According to Felton, the change resulted in banning of mountain bikes from 762 wilderness areas in 44 states.

Think about that for a second.

With no congressional approval, a handful of US Government organizations kicked mountain bikers off nearly 110 million acres, or “[…] roughly five percent of the American landscape”.

Do you think that we should allow everyone to use public land, only allow some to use public land, or allow no one to use public land?

Do you believe the argument provided by organizations like the Sierra Club and Wilderness Society, that explicit prohibition of mountain bikes in wilderness areas owned by the federal government is a good thing?

Or do you believe organizations like IMBA, mountain biking’s largest advocacy group, when they state they want to work with policy makers and competing trail users to, as Felton puts it, “preserve access on existing multi-use trails by redrawing proposed wilderness boundaries, and/or employing alternative preservation classifications that allow for bike access”.

Race promoters who host mountain bike races tend to fall into the “work with policymakers and competing trail users” camp.

However, there is yet another issue hiding within this controversy.

From the dark side of environmental movement comes people that are so invested in removing mountain bikes from public lands, that they willing to injure or even kill riders with boobie-traps.

Posted by Kyle Bondo

Kyle Bondo is a thinker, podcaster, author, and creative strategy dragon seeking to make a small dent in the universe. He is the founder of Reckoneer, host of the Merchants of Dirt Podcast and Get Lost Racing Podcast podcasts, and an avid adventure racer. As a successful race promoter with over 20+ years in the endurance racing industry, Kyle has helped many race directors and race promoters start and improve their own races so that they too can share their passion for endurance sports with others.

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Reckoneer, the leading resource for outdoor industry event planners, has been partnering with race directors and event managers since 2012. As a veteran-owned, event planning and marketing company, Reckoneer supports an extensive portfolio of off-road races, outdoor programs, and endurance sports companies with strategy, logistics, and contingency planning.

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